Difficult decisions

We've spent a lot of time talking about whether we'd like to stay in Australia in the longer term. It's got lots going for it:

• Better climate (although the average rainfall in Sydney is twice that of London, and after being too cold for months in an unheated house and unsuitable clothing, I now don't want to go outside as its too hot and feels like my flesh is smouldering).
• Lots of phenomenal beaches, but again there are those pesky sharks and jellyfish.
• Better economic security for our kids (?????), hard to be any worse than the UK at the moment, but we're looking forward to bringing our Aussie dollars back to the UK.
• More rewarding careers (???), its been going well so far.
• Fewer people

The list could go on and on, but ultimately its not Europe and we still have a pretty tenuous social network. I've spent 3 out of the last 6 weeks being a single parent, and being the only carer for my kids on this continent has felt like a big responsibility.

Howard has been swanning all over the globe, but is vowing never to do international travel ever again, so we might have felt a bit isolated from our friends and family back in Blighty, if we stayed.

So we'd decided that we were definitely returning to the UK, then Howard's boss offered him a job. Now, apart from buffing his ego, it re-opened the whole debate again. Ultimately, you can have the potted version rather than relive weeks of soul searching, as Howard (my very talented husband) is just winging his way back from the UK after a consultant job interview in Bristol. Fortunately he got the post, as I'm not sure how we would have got over the annoyance at the time, effort and money involved in travelling 17,000Km for an interview, and not being successful.

So for better or worse, we'll be back among you on the 17th January 2011. We're thinking of having a party to celebrate/commiserate.